World Population Day History

World Population Day seeks to draw attention to issues related to a growing global population. The world's population as of April 2016, is over 7.4 Billion. The world's population is rapidly surging with birth rates on the rise and life expectancy increases. Over the last century, between 1916 and 2012, global life expectancy more than doubled from 34 to 70 years while world population has quintupled from 1.5 billion to 7.3 billion between 1900 and 2016.

In 1989, the United Nations designated July 11th as World Population Day in an effort to garner attention for population issues and crises such as displaced people, rights and needs of women and girls and population safety on a global level. With an ever-growing world population, World Population Day serves to highlight the challenges and opportunities of this growth and its impact on planet sustainability, heavy urbanization, availability of health care and youth empowerment.

Top Tweets for World Population Day -

World Population Day Facts & Quotes

The theme for World Population Day in 2017 was Family Planning: Empowering People, Developing Nations..

China and India are by far the most populous countries on the globe. With 1.4 and 1.3 billion inhabitants, respectively, both countries are home to about 37% of the world's people.

The annual growth rate of the world's population peaked at 2.1% in 1962 and since been decreasing. It is estimated that by the year 2100, the population will slow to 0.06% annual growth.

According to the United Nations, India is expected to surpass China and become the world's most populous country by 2024. Its population is projected to reach 1.5 billion in 2030.

We are in a bottle of overpopulation and wasteful consumption that could push half of Earth's species to extinction in this century. E.O. Wilson, naturalist and biologist

World Population Day Top Events and Things to Do

Reduce your carbon footprint to slow global warming and pollution. Walk instead of driving, use energy saving light bulbs, carpool with others, turn down the AC/heat when you are not home, reuse and recycle paper, bottles and plastics.

Spread the word about birth control methods. Over half of the pregnancies every year in the US are unplanned and could have been prevented by birth control methods such as pills, rings, IUDs and condoms.

Take a shorter shower, turn off the water while brushing your teeth and avoid waste. As the population increases, clean safe water will become even more of a commodity.

Watch a documentary about population. Some of our favorites, Don't Panic: The Truth About Population, Overpopulated and How Many People Can Live On The Planet.

Support an organization or charity that works on reproductive health education. Reproductive health education can help slow the AIDS epidemic, support pregnant women worldwide and provide contraceptive methods and education to those who need it most. Some organizations to consider include, the UN World Population Fund, International Planned Parenthood Federation and the World Population Foundation.